Credit Card Rewards Game In Canada

They’re fun, liberating, enriching, exhilerating, frustrating and distressing. They make every purchase an aspirational event, and every redemption an exercise in despondency. But we love ’em!

More than any other people in the world, Canadians love to earn, burn and churn their cash, points and miles. Play the game like the masters, and you’ll have the chance to fly free, stay free, and fatten your wallet in spades. Here’s a primer on how to exploit the banks’ insatiable appetite for growth and increase your earning power.
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1. Loyalty Doesn’t Pay

When do you get the most value from your rewards credit card? When you get a new one, or threaten to. Not unlike insurance, wirelesss and cable, the best incentives are reserved for new customers, or those threating to leave.

Think about it, it may take you $25,000 worth of spend, and a couple of years, to earn 25,000 miles on your current credit card. Or, you can get a new credit card with a welcome bonus of 25,000 miles and all you’ll have to spend is $500 in 3 months to meet the minimum spend requirement.

2. Let Issuers Pay You To Try Their Credit Card

When you buy a new pair of jeans you get to try them on before you pay right? Buy an item unseen from a catalogue, it usually comes with a strong return policy correct? We’ve all had experiences with a credit card or rewards program we found underwhelming. So why do some issuers charge an annual fee BEFORE you’ve had a chance to take their service and rewards program for a test drive?

If you get a new credit card, start with one that waives the first year annual fee – plenty of the best credit cards have no fee in the first year. You’ll be able to give the card a trial run, and the onus will be on the issuer to dazzle you with their service and product, before you pay for it – a pretty reasonable expectation when you consider how we shop and pay for most other items.

3. Be Patient, Wait For The Hefty Welcome Bonus Incentive

The most amount of value you’ll ever get from your rewards credit card will be in the welcome bonus. Issuers often have promotional periods where they offer more welcome bonus points than their usual base incentive offer – sometimes double the value. Do a little research and stay patient to wait for the best deal available.

A credit card’s base welcome bonus offer may be 15,000 points, with a $120 annual fee. Wait for the right moment, and you could get the same card with a 30,000 point welcome bonus, and a first year annual fee waiver. The difference in value between the two offers may be as high as $300! That’s the time to pounce.